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"It could be because there was an end-of-season event or people may have been celebrating something specific, or did the All Blacks game have an impact on things? [The availability of alcohol] is part of the myriad reasons why (Northland has a high rate of drink drivers) but whatever [the reasons] it's a concern to have so many drivers caught for drink driving over the weekend," he said.

"Alcohol remains one of the major causes of serious injury and fatal crashes.

"But I don't measure success in the number of apprehensions [for drink driving] ... For me success will be when we have nobody harmed on our roads as a result of alcohol. That's what we need to focus on, reducing the number of victims on our roads."

Northland police communications manager Sarah Kennett said alcohol was one of the three main causes of fatal and serious injury crashes in Northland.

"If we stop them there's no danger they will hurt or kill somebody else on the road, but it's disappointing so many people are still taking the risk."